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KEEP LOOKING UP!

GOD’S WORD OR NOT "The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever." Psalms 12:6-7 In my lifetime, I have seen America's leadership begin to "…hate the good, and love the evil…" (Micah 3:2.) This hate of good and love of evil seems to parallel with the changing of one Bible translation right after another. Like the Athenians on Mars' hill, today's religious (not necessarily Christian) crowd seem to spend "their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing." (Acts 17:21) You would think that any sincere Christian would want to know if God left us His word or not. You would think that any dedicated believer would want to settle the issue of which Bible is correct. One thing any rational person knows is that they cannot all be correct. They can all be wrong, but they cannot all be right! Do we have God's words in a book or do we not? If we do, which version is it? If we do not, why do we use whatever book we have? If it is not God's infallible word why even use it? Whether one is easier to read is immaterial if it is not the truth anyway! That is as stupid as saying "I'd rather take poison than medicine because it tastes better." Did God leave us in this world like a ship with no rudder or did He leave us His word, unadulterated and pure? The psalmist said He "preserved" His words. Why would anyone want to change the subject from "words" to people? Satan's first conversation with man was over what God said (His words.) First, Satan cast doubt on what God has said (Genesis 3:1,) then Satan outright accused God of lying (Genesis 3:4.) Satan wants to be God and all of his minions want to be God too. They want to tell you what God says or means. A people with solid faith in God's words cannot be turned into slaves (John 8:32.) How does one know what to believe if he flip-flops from one translation to another? For instance, in John 15:1-5, Christ's discourse on bearing fruit includes "purging" in the King James Bible (John 15:2. The other versions use the word "prunes." You do not have to have a GED to know that purging means cleaning and pruning means cutting off. Does it make any difference? Does Christ "cut off" His branches (people, in this context) or does He cleanse them? I don't know about you, but it is very important to me to know which is right . In 2 Timothy 2:15, The KJV says "Study to show thyself approved…;" all others remove the word "study." Many of the other versions say "…be diligent to present yourselves…" What does "diligent" mean? According to Webster, it means "steady in application to business; constant in effort…" This certainly is not a synonym for study. You could be "steady" and never open your Bible. The New Living Translation says "work hard so you can present yourself to God…" You could do that and never own or open a Bible. What are the motives of these people wanting to change these simple, plain, easy to understand words? Please do not start on what "the Greek" or "the Hebrew" says. "The Greek" and "The Hebrew" do not exist! There is no such thing and the people making such statements know it too. There are at least 24 Greek New Testaments. The 25th edition of the Nestles-Aland Greek New Testament has been changed in over 600 places. There are no such manuscripts as the "original." If we do not have a Divine Book, how can we be sure we have a Divine Being? Do you realize that the entire scope of Christianity rises or falls on whether God has preserved His words or not? If we do not have the very words of God, then we are left without any standard or measurement or any Divine Authority. The world hates God's Book. Someone has correctly said that the more wicked, nastier and meaner this world becomes, the narrower and stricter the KJV will become. Nearly 30 years ago, I fought this inward battle. Did I have God's words or not? I wrote letters, I asked questions, I read both pro and con. In our prison classes, men would bring in as many as six different translations…which led to more confusion and uncertainty. After weighing all the evidence, I could find, I cast my lot with the King James Bible as God's words, pure and perfect, to man. If I had found, in my mind, that there was no book on earth that was all pure and holy, not only would I have stopped doing the Bible class, I would have never opened my Bible again. If there is not a perfect Bible, what can you say from an imperfect one? If part of the book is incorrect, how do you know which part is incorrect? If most of the Bible is true, but a few places are not; how do I (or you) know which ones are which? If one is making his living "preaching" or "teaching" the Bible, he must be very subtle. He cannot be dogmatic about one translation because that projects him as "illiterate," "old fashioned," "behind times" and his church probably won't grow much. On the other hand, who knows? Jack Hyles had the largest Sunday School in the world with "hell fire" preaching from the KJV, (which he went on record as believing it to be the inspired words of God.) Remember, when a man who is honestly mistaken, hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or he will quit being honest. Keep Looking Up! In loving memory of Leland Maples

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PRAYER REQUESTS Pray for our nation, our President, our state and local leaders, and all citizens during this Covid19 virus and the upcoming election. May God protect us all. Many of us have friends and family that we have lost to this virus. We all need to pray for all those left that are not Christians, that they will be saved. Pray for Grace, she is not a Christian. Continue to pray for Don and Margaret, her cancer has returned and she is receiving treatment at Baylor in Dallas. Pray for Eric A., he recently lost his job. Continue to pray for Sammy Arp. Sweet wife, Maureen (Mo) went home to be with the Lord. Continue to pray for Jamie Belknap and her health. Continue to pray for her blood pressure and her A1C numbers. Also pray for finances to complete her move to West Virginia. Continue to pray for Vearl and Sandy, he has leukemia. Pray for members of the Borron/Morgan families. Many of them have a rare kidney disease and/or liver issues. Pray for Tristen Cannefax, the cancer has spread. Pray for 7-year-old Grant Crutcher, his severe diabetes is affecting his heart. Continue to pray for Joy and Jackie, her knee surgery last year did not fix the problem. Pray for Robert Lambert, his PSA numbers are elevated and he is out of a job because of the virus. Continue to pray for Jack and Delores’ family members; Marjetta (dementia) she is much worse, and for Melvadean (cancer) she is some better. Pray for Jennie S. and her entire family in the loss of husband, father and grandfather, Hooks. Pray for Linda S., she has recently been diagnosed with lung, liver and colon cancer. Pray for Craig and Laura, they are staying in because of the virus. Continue to pray for Autumn Christine Williams, Dean and Johnnie’s youngest granddaughter. Pray for healing of her brainstem. Also pray for 15-year-old grandson, Gage; his heart is only working at 25%. It needs to come up to 30% in the next six months, so he won’t have to have surgery. Glenda Wright asked for prayer for her friend Carolyn and herself. Continue to pray for the REC-Room. We will not be allowed to have the REC- Room until the virus restrictions are lifted by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Pray for all three half-way houses here in Odessa and all those in jail. They are not allowed visitors or able to go to any meetings. Public vendors are not even allowed to go into those facilities and fill the vending machines. All these restrictions create a lot of unrest. Pray for all those that work in these facilities, they are truly special folks. Pray for our church that we may remain focused on the Lord Jesus Christ, the salvation of the lost and faithfulness of all of us. Pray too for our Sunday School classes. Pray for all our men and women serving in the armed forces. Keep them safe until they come home. Pray for all our first responders, police, firemen and EMT’s. Pray protection for our doctors and nurses and additional hospital staff that are working tirelessly during this ordeal.

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